Tuesday, July 31, 2012

JESUS IS JUST ALRIGHT WITH ME

by Julie L. Cannon

This is not about a song by The Byrds. It’s not about a
trunk novel. Believe me, I have a good number of those, along with a trunk
short story I’m thinking I ought to re-name “Humble Pie.” Several months back,
I needed some money really bad because my daughter was getting married, and as
it happened, one afternoon, my daddy dropped by the house with a page torn from
a woman’s magazine. “Your mother sent this, gal,” he said. It was a short story
contest and the prize was three grand. I was certain it was by divine
appointment, as I’d been praying hard for some income. Never mind that I’ve only
written two short stories in my life (I’m almost 50). I was confident I could
knock out 3,500 riveting words in a couple of days and rake in the needed cash.
So I wrote a short story and sent it off with absolutely no doubt I’d win. I watched
my in-box like an eager vulture on the day the winner was to be notified.

I did not win. I didn’t even get second or third place.
After some despondency and espresso and fried onion rings, I returned to
writing my novel. A few days ago, I steeled
myself and decided to read that brilliant and compelling work. “Aaargh, this is
pathetic!” I screamed. I had a strong desire to fling the story into a metal
can, pour gasoline over it and toss in a lit match.

I realize now that I did a lot wrong. I wrote hastily, I
sent my story off without letting it rest and looking at it with fresh eyes. I
didn’t edit it one little bit, and after seven novels, believe me, I know that
good writing is re-writing. Thus, I’m a little chicken to dig out one of my
trunk novels and confront myself just now. I figured I’d use this post to come
clean with you about something else - Jesus is in my novel “Twang” which
releases today.

My first published books were written for the general
market, meaning they did not have to have any intentional spiritual component.
In fact, seems my editors at Simon & Schuster and Penguin discouraged that
kind of plot thread. Though, in hindsight I see I was incorporating the faith
elements all along, in a way my current agent calls ‘organically spiritual.’

I was happy when I decided to jump the fence to the inspirational
market with the release of I’ll Be Home
for Christmas in 2010. I said to myself, “Now I can write the way I want!”

But after I read my new publisher’s guidelines, I had a
whole new concern. I worried this market would be too restrictive. Therefore
not like real life, which I am living, and like to write about. Plus, when I mentioned
to my pastor that I was writing an Inspirational Romance, she laughed! “What’s
that?” she asked. “When he rips her bodice off and discovers she’s got on Long
Johns underneath?”

I was scared she was right. I didn’t want a pious little
story, churchy and dull. I didn’t want to deny very real feelings. I wanted
edgy and gritty, a book which showcases human frailties. I wanted my stories to
expose souls, which we all know aren’t always pretty.

My soul wasn’t very pretty way back when I had my first ‘encounter’
with the supernatural. I was in college and it happened when the bicycle I was
on collided with a car. Some of you may’ve read my mini-memoir about my
accident, the accompanying head injury. That was when I met Jesus. This was a brand
new, earth-shaking experience that blew the door wide open to my soul. I
started asking a lot of questions. I’m sure you’ve heard people say it was
their suffering that drew them closer to God, that it was while in the depths
of despair they discovered God was all they needed. This was true for me. While
undergoing therapy, visiting various neurologists and seeing folks sitting in
wheelchairs, staring vacantly with drool running out of their mouths, I knew,
“There but for the grace of God go I.”

Today is the official birth of Twang, published by Abingdon Press in Nashville, Tennessee. Jesus
appears in the book, but so do gritty people and themes, because happily, my new
editor gave me lots of creative license and not many constraints as long as I
made sure the heart of my story is full of grace and hope and healing and peace
and joy and all those other good things.

What amazed me when I went to Nashville for research is that
there are many so-called ‘gentleman’s clubs’ there, and then someone told me
that a lot of wanna-be female singers work there to pay their rent. So I put
that in, and I added a lecherous father, a beautician with a tattooed past, as
well as a manager who’s hungry for blockbuster hits at the expense of his
client’s emotional health. In other words, real people.

A lot of readers who got an advance copy of Twang have commented on the surprising
grittiness and power of this ‘inspirational’ story.Several wrote “Bravo!” in their endorsement.
I don’t know what’s brave about the story except that I did wrestle with some thought-provoking,
controversial issues. I wanted to show how God can redeem the seemingly
unredeemable things in a person’s life.

Today, as my story is
released, I wonder, did I get it real enough? Will even non-Christians
appreciate Twang? If you like spiritually
daring stories and you’re not turned off when Jesus shows up, I hope you’ll
consider checking out Twang.

Julie L. Cannon is the author of the award-winning Homegrown
series, published by Simon & Schuster and described as ‘Southern-fried soul
food.’ Her novel I’ll Be Home for
Christmas, Summerside Press, Sept. ‘10, made the CBA Bestseller List as
well as Nielsen’s Top 50 Inspirational Titles. Abingdon Press will release Twang in August 2012, and Scarlett Says in October 2013. When she isn’t busy tending her
tomato patch, Julie can be found listening to country music or teaching
memoir-writing workshops. She lives in Watkinsville, Georgia. Visit her website
at www.julielcannon.com and connect
with her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/julieLcannon
and on Twitter at JulieLCannon.

10 comments:

Congrats on the new book, Julie! Love the cover, too. Sometimes I think it is a shame that the book markets are so segmented into "Christian/Inspirational" vs. "Secular." I just want to read good stories about real people! I'll look for your book.

An impressive share! I have just forwarded this onto a co-worker who has been conducting a little homework on this. And he in fact ordered me dinner simply because I discovered it for him... lol. So allow me to reword this.... Thank YOU for the meal!

! But yeah, thanx for spending some time to discuss this matter here on your site.